1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the management of a well and more specifically to a method and apparatus for facilitating the management of a well in the petroleum industry.
2. Description of Related Art
Companies invest significant amounts of capital in different types of wells for the production of raw materials, such as crude oil and natural gas. Over the years many technologies have been developed for specific aspects of oil well production. For example, advances in seismic techniques have improved results obtained during a predictability or exploration phase for determining the location of the existence of oil or gas reserves underground. Improvements in well drilling tools and respective control systems used during a construction and completion phase now provide sophisticated wells with multiple branches grouped into production zones. Preliminary refining and related controls and improvements in raw material transportation have improved the ability to process and transport product during a production phase. All of these improvements have been made to reduce the overall costs of producing petroleum by increasing the efficiencies of each of the foregoing and other phases that lead to the extraction of materials from the ground in either an aboveground or undersea environment.
Many of these improvements have resulted because sensors have been developed for measuring a number of dynamic parameters on a real-time basis. As these sensors have been developed over time, it has been possible for an experienced individual to review past history of different parameters and deduce various operational conditions and predict possible consequences. Now, however, the amount of data available is just too great for an individual to assimilate. Important changes in one parameter may go undetected by an individual even though that change may predict, in association with other parameters, some important event that could have severe adverse implications for a phase of the production cycle. For example, if an individual does not predict the grounding of a bit, the bit may be damaged when it grounds necessitating the removal of the bit and significant delays in a drilling schedule.
In an attempt to overcome problems introduced by the expansion of information available, many companies now divide each of the production cycle phases mentioned above into management requirements based upon different functional requirements of the phase. For example, the construction and completion phase has been divided into drilling, mud and geological functional aspects or specialties in which different personnel are responsible for assimilating the incoming data that is relevant to their respective specialties. This approach initially reduces the amount of data a single individual must assimilate. However, the approach still requires experienced personnel to evaluate the data. Moreover, as technology continues to develop, the number of parameters continues to increase. Consequently even a specialist will eventually receive more data than he or she can evaluate.
In prior art systems the data often undergoes some basic signal processing for display as a report in textual or graphic form. These systems, however, often present only historical data. They do not provide the data information in real time. Moreover, even if real time data was provided individual parameters in separate displays, an individual would have to assimilate the data. As a result, the validity of conclusions continue to be based upon the experience and skill of the specialist. Likewise any incorrect conclusion drawn by a specialist because certain conditions were overlooked can have a significant adverse impact on the production costs due to delays and damage.